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Saline Water Desalination Using Direct Contact Membrane Distillation: A Theoretical and Experimental Investigation

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Engineering Solutions Toward Sustainable Development (IWBBIO 2023)

Part of the book series: Earth and Environmental Sciences Library ((EESL))

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Abstract

Water desalination using membranes is a promising technology and offers a solution to the problem of water scarcity. The present study aims to investigate the experimental and theoretical association between the membrane sheet’s geometric dimensions and freshwater flux. Comparison between experimental and theoretical results shows that the simulation results well agree with the experimental outcomes and the maximum error is less than 1%, indicating that the proposed model is reliable and valid. The Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes employed had a nominal pore size of 0.45 µm and were supported by a scrim layer. With the same velocity, the basic model projected the flow at varied temperatures and membrane lengths (5–15 cm). The modeling outputs were verified against the experimental data, and the errors varied between < 1% at different temperatures and < 5% at different membrane lengths. Direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) in parallel flow was studied. Also, the research revealed that shorter membrane modules had more outflow versus longer membrane modules under the same conditions. As a consequence, since the outflow from the membrane distillation process is associated with membrane size and temperature, evaluating membrane performance by flux for membrane distillation can only be done under standard conditions and geometries. Furthermore, because it is independent of temperature and membrane module size, the overall mass transfer coefficient provides a superior statistic for measuring membrane performance.

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Acknowledgements

The researchers would like to acknowledge the assistance provided by the Science and Technology Development Fund (STDF) for funding the project, No. 41902 (Center of Excellence in Membrane-based Water Desalination Technology for Testing and Characterization.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2000, South Africa

    Yasser Elhenawy & Thokozani Majozi

  2. Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Port-Said University, Port Said, 42526, Egypt

    Yasser Elhenawy

  3. Center of Excellence in Membrane-Based Water Desalination Technology for Testing and Characterization (CEMTC), Port Said University, Port Said, 42526, Egypt

    Yasser Elhenawy & M. Bassyouni

  4. Civil Engineering Department, Higher Future Institute of Engineering and Technology, El Mansoura, Egypt

    Kareem Fouad

  5. Chemical Engineering Department, Egyptian Academy for Engineering and Advanced Technology Affiliated to Ministry of Military Production, Cairo, 3066, Egypt

    Shereen M. S. Majozi

  6. Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Port Said University, Port Said, 42526, Egypt

    M. Bassyouni

  7. East Port Said University of Technology, Saini, Port Said, 45632, Egypt

    M. Bassyouni

Authors
  1. Yasser Elhenawy
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  2. Kareem Fouad
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  3. Thokozani Majozi
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  4. Shereen M. S. Majozi
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  5. M. Bassyouni
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Bassyouni .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Water and Water Structures Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt

    Abdelazim M. Negm

  2. Faculty of Engineering, Port Said University, Port Fouad, Egypt

    Rawya Y. Rizk

  3. Faculty of Engineering, Port Said University, Port Fouad, Egypt

    Rehab F. Abdel-Kader

  4. Faculty of Engineering, Port Said University, Port Fouad, Egypt

    Asmaa Ahmed

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© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Elhenawy, Y., Fouad, K., Majozi, T., Majozi, S.M.S., Bassyouni, M. (2024). Saline Water Desalination Using Direct Contact Membrane Distillation: A Theoretical and Experimental Investigation. In: Negm, A.M., Rizk, R.Y., Abdel-Kader, R.F., Ahmed, A. (eds) Engineering Solutions Toward Sustainable Development. IWBBIO 2023. Earth and Environmental Sciences Library. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46491-1_16

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